


you're just too good to be true

by MoonlightBreeze



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [20]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eliot Spencer Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, FebuWhump2021, Hopeful Ending, Imprisonment, M/M, Minor Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, POV Eliot Spencer, Protective Eliot Spencer, Time Travel, like this COULD be read as an OT3 fic but it's mostly Hardison/Eliot, mentions of Eliot's past/when he was captured in the past, no beta we die like men, there's no resolution because I'm bad at those, well kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29619165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightBreeze/pseuds/MoonlightBreeze
Summary: After a rather impulsive stint with Hardison's new time travel machine, Parker, Eliot, and Hardison find themselves trapped in an underground prison, courtesy of Eliot's old friends. Eliot feels responsible, but Hardison is there to make sure he knows he's not.Febuwhump Day 20 - alternate prompt, time travelWarnings for imprisonment/capture and mentions & allusions to Eliot's past and the violence that comes with it.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138970
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	you're just too good to be true

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! The associated Febuwhump prompt for this fic is an alternate one I selected: time travel. Ironically, this prompt is less angsty than the original one for today, but I somehow managed to make this fic angstier than my idea for the original prompt was. 
> 
> This is also written for **National Handcuff Day**! It is, in case you were wondering, a direct response (read: retaliation) to the wonderful [Accal1a's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a) [Eliot/Hardison porn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29611350) that killed me in all the best ways. Please go check that out if you're a smut person after you're done here, she's amazing and deserves all of the love. 
> 
> Warnings for imprisonment/capture and allusions to Eliot's past & his own imprisonment/capture/violence. Please keep your lovely selves safe! <3
> 
> This is mainly an Eliot/Hardison fic, since that's what Accal1a's is and this fic is for her, but I did keep their exact relationship a bit ambiguous so you can read this as an OT3 story if you want, but the focus is on Hardison and Eliot. 
> 
> And yes, the title is from Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You and no, I am not even a little bit sorry.
> 
> With that, let's get on to the story! Kudos make my day and comments validate my existence, so please feel free to leave those, if you want :) And, as always, I hope you have a wonderful day/night! <3
> 
> ~ Em

“Parker, I - would you wait a second, Parker?! Parker!” 

Eliot could’ve shoved her off if he wanted to, but he knew he never would, even if she _was_ pushing him towards something that looked suspiciously like one of those weird portal things on Hardison’s sci-fi movies. He couldn’t bear it if she started looking at him like he was going to hurt her, and he didn’t think he could live with himself if he ever did, anyway, so he endured it and let her push him towards the strange device. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be that bad.

Thinking that was his first mistake. 

Falling through the portal felt like falling through a hole in the atmosphere; Eliot felt nothing and everything all at once, and it felt like he was in a room somewhere, trapped, except there were no walls and the floor was like liquid nitrogen. He was inside of a vacuum, the suction pulling him somewhere, and he didn’t know where, and that was a _problem_. It was Eliot’s job to know where. He searched for Parker blindly in the darkness, but he only managed to grasp her hand for a second or two before he lost her again. 

By the time the portal stopped, and Eliot felt his feet land on solid ground, he had no idea how long they’d been stuck inside of it. It could have been weeks for all he knew. It _felt_ like weeks. 

“Eliot!” Parker called, alarm in her voice, and Eliot raced in the direction of the sound. When he found Parker, she was up in a tree, clinging to one of the branches with trepidation. She didn’t look like she was in any hurry to get down. Eliot raised an eyebrow at her, a silent _Parker, what the hell_ that she somehow understood. 

“Trees make me feel safe,” she said in lieu of any actual explanation. “I didn’t know where you were.” Eliot sighed. Wherever the hell they were, whatever the hell had just happened, he knew one thing for sure - it was going to be a long day. 

~ ~ ~

The air around them was thick and humid, and Eliot didn’t recognise any landmarks as he & Parker started to walk. He’d hoped he’d be able to identify their whereabouts, or at least their whereabouts in relation to a building with cell service, so he could call Hardison, but it was to no avail. They were miles away from any signs of civilization, and the sun was so bright Eliot could barely stand to keep his eyes open. 

“Hey, do you think it actually worked?” Parker asked from beside him. She was looking around, too, for a way to escape. He chuckled. While he was looking for familiarity, she was looking for an exit. 

“Do I think what worked?”

“Hardison’s time machine,” Parker said, squinting into the sun like she saw something, but Eliot was quite confident she hadn’t. 

“His _what?!_ ”

“Oh, sorry,” Parker said, wincing. “Did I not tell you that’s what it was?”

“No!” Eliot growled. “Parker, you just shoved me through it. You never told me what it was.” 

“Oh,” Parker mumbled. “Sorry.” She looked so contrite that Eliot softened a little, squeezing her shoulders once to let her know he wasn’t mad at her. 

“That’s okay. I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” Parker gave him a smile and moved a little closer to Eliot, despite the sweltering heat. Eliot tried to contain the stupid grin that wanted to emerge at her gesture; God, even in this situation, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. 

Eliot wasn’t sure how long they’d been walking when a loud crash from behind startled them, making both him and Parker stumble to a stop. Eliot put a hand over his forehead, trying to see past the sun’s glare on the sand to figure out what had caused the noise. 

To his surprise, it was Hardison, looking distinctly rattled and clutching a bag of supplies in one hand. “How the hell did you find us?” Eliot asked, not waiting for an answer before he strode forward and tugged Hardison into his arms, hugging him as tight as he could for a minute or two. 

“I didn’t,” Hardison responded, melting into Eliot’s embrace. “I opened the portal and hoped, man.”

Eliot had to swallow hard around the lump in his throat. He couldn’t believe Hardison had just walked through a portal - and time travel machine, apparently - to places unknown with nothing but a duffel bag of provisions where there might be poisonous bugs or snakes or any number of things and people that could kill him. And all for Eliot and Parker. Eliot wasn’t quite sure how to wrap his head around it. 

“Here,” Hardison said, tossing a granola bar at Eliot and another one at Parker. “I brought snacks and water, as well as a first aid kit, my hacking equipment, and anything else I thought we might need.”

Eliot smiled to himself as he ate the granola bar; though he was loathe to admit it, he was fond of Hardison’s over-packing and propensity to act as the caretaker of the group when the rest of them forgot to take care of themselves. 

Before long, the granola bars had been eaten and they’d each taken a drink of water. Eliot gestured Parker and Hardison forward, leading them further into the desert. He wanted to be in front, their first line of defense, if something were to happen. 

“So your time travel machine really works,” Parker mused, breaking the silence. “Huh. That’s cool!”

“Oh, yeah, it’s so _cool_ ,” Eliot bit back sarcastically. “I _love_ walking through the desert with no idea where I am!”

Parker tilted her head to the side and regarded him with confusion. “Why would you love walking through the desert with no idea where you are?” 

Eliot sighed and shook his head, too tired and tense to explain how sarcasm worked again to her. Besides, it’s not like he minded; her inability to understand sarcasm was part of what made Parker _Parker_ , and Eliot wouldn’t change it for the world. 

“Okay, to be fair, I wasn’t expecting y’all to just jump right through it!” Hardison tried to defend himself. “Man, I don’t know how this thing works! We could only be a few years back, or we could be roamin’ with some nasty ass dinosaurs right about now.” 

Eliot shook his head, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I can’t believe that’s an actual possibility right now.”

“Well, believe it, brother,” Hardison sighed. “I don’t want this any more than you do, but here we are.” 

With that, the group fell silent once again as they trekked across the sand. Eliot’s skin crawled. He didn’t like this. Something felt off, but he couldn’t tell what. Something was wrong; something was very, very wrong. 

The shouts were the first thing that gave it away. In the distance, Eliot could hear men shouting in a language he didn’t understand - and Eliot understood a _lot_ of languages - and exchanged a heavy look with Parker and Hardison. 

“Hey, is that - ” Hardison was cut off by the appearance of three men on horseback, armed with assault rifles and saddle bags that Eliot could tell held grenades. The familiarity of it washed over him, and he realised where they were, when the time machine had sent them back to. _Oh, no_. 

“Run!” he shouted at Parker and Hardison. They followed his instructions immediately, taking flight towards - well, towards _nothing_ , because desert was all any of them could see for miles. Eliot shoved them forward as much as he could, tripping over objects that weren’t there in his haste to get away. He knew these men. He knew this place. He’d been here before. And he couldn’t let Parker and Hardison get caught up in this, this was _his_ battle, this was his fight - 

“Stop where you are!” A heavy, accented voice boomed over the sand. Eliot, gasping for breath, skidded to a stop and turned to face the man who’d spoken. 

“Leave them alone!” he shouted back. “It’s me you want. They have no part in this.” Parker and Hardison had stopped by now, too, looking at Eliot with uncertainty. 

“On the contrary,” the man called again, “If they are with you, they are for us. Capture them!” 

With that, the men on horseback whipped their horses into a sprint, and it was only a few seconds before they were upon them. 

Eliot fought viciously; he managed to knock three men out cold with Parker and Hardison’s help, but it was no use. Four more replaced the three he’d taken out, and five joined them after that. Their leader, the man who’d shouted to Eliot before, watched with satisfaction as his men cornered Parker and Hardison, slapping handcuffs on both of them. Eliot, though incensed, gave up the fight then. There was no way he was leaving them alone to deal with the threat the men possessed. 

“That’s better,” the leader purred when Eliot was handcuffed to Hardison, both of them and Parker additionally cuffed to one of the men’s horses. 

“Start walking,” the leader snapped, and Eliot, Hardison, and Parker had no choice but to obey. 

~ ~ ~

Eliot wasn’t sure how long they walked before they came to the safehouse; a familiar, grey brick structure with an underground prison Eliot was all too familiar with. He tensed as the men uncuffed them from their horses and began to lead them inside. He’d been in this place. He’d gotten out of this place, barely. There was no way in _hell_ he was letting Parker and Hardison go through the same horror he’d had to go through. 

Eliot spent the entirety of their descent underground trying to work out a way to escape that didn’t involve waiting for a window of opportunity when the weakest man was left to guard his cell - a window of opportunity that might not even come, now, since it appeared they’d been dropped back a few weeks after Eliot’s initial escape, considering the men had recognised him. 

As it turned out, Eliot didn’t _have_ to come up with an exit strategy; not when one of his partners happened to be a thief. 

There were only two cells in the underground prison, a fact that Eliot knew already because of his experiences with his various “roommates” when he was captured by them. 

The men threw Hardison and Eliot into one cell and Parker into the other. “Be good,” the leader growled. “We'll be back in a few hours.” 

They were only alone for a few minutes before Eliot heard the jingling of keys, and he peered with Hardison through the cell bars to see that Parker had swiped one of the men’s keys off of their toolbelt. Eliot laughed. It paid to run with a thief sometimes. 

Parker let herself out of her cell in record time, but when she approached Eliot and Hardison’s, the key didn’t work. 

“Dammit,” Hardison cursed. “They must still have the master.”

“I can’t pick this lock,” Parker said, frustration seeping into her voice. “I don’t have any of my tools. They took everything.” She gestured to the inside of Eliot and Hardison’s cell. “Is there anything in there I can use?”

“Nah, mama,” Hardison replied, after giving the cell a quick once-over. “There’s nothin’ in here.” It was true. The cell was empty, sans Eliot and Hardison, and Eliot shuddered as he remembered what it had been filled with the last time he was here. He was glad for the emptiness. 

“Look, just go get help,” Eliot said to her. “We’ll be fine.” He knew that, in all actuality, they _wouldn’t_ be fine, but the less she knew about these guys, the better off she’d be. 

“ _Where_?” Parker asked. “We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere.”

Eliot shook his head. “No, there’s another of their safehouses just up the road about a half a mile. If you can get there before they notice you’re gone, you should have enough cell service to get a call out to Nate and Sophie.” Eliot turned to look at Hardison. “You built that fuckin’ thing that got us here in the first place. I assume you know how to work it?”

“Uh…”

“Great. That’s real great, Hardison.”

“Look, man, it ain’t an exact science!” Hardison defended himself. He turned to Parker, ignoring Eliot’s incredulous grunt, and said, “If you can get in touch with Nate and Sophie, tell them to press the red button on the side of the time machine. It’s a self-destruct button and it _should_ destroy the time machine and zap us back to our time.”

“And what’re the chances of us getting stuck in this time?” Eliot asked him, glaring. 

“Like 10%,” Hardison replied. When he saw the look on Eliot’s face, he added, “It’s our best shot!”

“Hardison’s right,” Parker said. “We don’t have a better plan.”

“Fine,” Eliot growled. “Just don’t get killed.” Parker nodded solemnly and crept out the door of the underground prison, closing it silently behind her. Eliot watched her go, his heart pounding with fear. He knew he’d never forgive himself if something happened to either one of them. 

“Hey, Eliot,” Hardison said, drawing Eliot’s attention away from himself and his thoughts. “Look, man, I’m sorry.”

Eliot raised an eyebrow at him, confused. “What the hell for?”

“Getting us into this mess,” Hardison said sheepishly. “I didn’t expect Parker to just jump right through when I showed you guys the time machine.”

Eliot chuckled. “Yeah, well, it’s _Parker_. I don’t think _she_ knew she was going to jump right through until she did. Also, no offense man, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t believe you when you said you built an actual time machine. I know I sure didn’t.”

“Oh, so what you’re saying is that the reason we’re in this mess is because you two don’t have faith in me?” Hardison replied, overdramatic as always. “Nice, Eliot, real nice. You just gotta hurt my feelings while we’re already captured in some rat-infested prison, that’s real considerate of you.”

Eliot couldn’t keep the smile off of his face at Hardison’s antics, but it disappeared only a few seconds later when he remembered their predicament. “No,” he sighed, leaning against the wall of their cell, a few paces away from Hardison - as much as he could be while they were still handcuffed to each other. “I’m not saying that’s the reason we’re in this mess. Actually, the reason we’re in this mess is because of me.” He avoided Hardison’s gaze. It was true; if Eliot hadn’t been on their hit list, all three of them probably could have skated by without getting themselves captured and thrown into a fucking prison. 

“Hey,” Hardison said, and took a cautious step towards Eliot, like he was afraid he might spook him. “None of us blame you, Eliot.”

Eliot looked away, the guilt weighing heavy on his heart. “Yeah, well, maybe you should.”

“Eliot,” Hardison said, catching his chin with two fingers, “Look at me.” Eliot reluctantly did so, making eye contact with Hardison, who tried to infuse as much reassurance and care as he could into his gaze. “You’re not responsible for this.”

“Yeah, I am, Hardison!” Eliot shouted, ignoring the way his voice cracked on the last syllable. “If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t be in this mess! Those guys had _me_ on their hit list, not you. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be locked up in a cell right now, so don’t you dare tell me I’m not responsible for this!” 

Hardison fell silent at that. He didn’t know what to say. Eventually, he moved a little closer and took Eliot’s hand, tangling their fingers together. The little squeeze he gave told Eliot all he needed to know - _I don’t blame you, I’m glad we’re together, at least, I love you_. 

Eliot exhaled shakily, tears springing to his eyes at Hardison’s treatment. He didn’t deserve this. 

“Will you shut up with all that ‘I don’t deserve this’ crap?” Hardison said, and Eliot blushed, glad for the dim lighting of their cell so Hardison wouldn’t notice. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Hardison snapped his fingers next to Eliot’s head, and said, “Hey, Eliot’s brain, shut up!” 

Eliot couldn’t keep the smile off of his face at that. The movement had jostled both of their arms, since they were still handcuffed together, and it made it look like Eliot was pointing at his own brain during Hardison’s declaration, a fact that he was sure didn’t go unnoticed by Hardison himself. 

“Hey,” Hardison said, bringing both of their hands back down so he could wrap one around Eliot’s waist, “We’re gonna get out of this. We’ll be okay. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

And Eliot knew that wasn’t necessarily true, but the fact that Hardison was saying it made something warm bloom in his chest, and he thought maybe he could start to believe it, even if it was just for Hardison’s benefit. 

“Yeah,” he exhaled, sidling forward a little until he and Hardison were nearly touching. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“Don’t push it.”

Hardison laughed, a deep, throaty sound, that reverberated down Eliot’s spine and made him shiver. He wasn’t expecting it when his hand was suddenly dragged in front of them as Hardison wrapped his arms around Eliot, encircling his back in a protective embrace. 

Eliot sighed, a little of the tension of the day bleeding from his shoulders as they relaxed, and melted into Hardison’s hug. “There you go,” Hardison said, and his voice was so soft that Eliot wondered how he even deserved to hear it, “There you are.” Eliot rested his head on Hardison’s chest, sinking into the feeling of Hardison surrounding him, and allowed himself to have that, have _him_ , just this once. 

And if the tears Eliot had been fighting since they’d first been thrown in the cell spilled over when Hardison ducked down just enough to kiss Eliot’s lips, well, he knew that neither of them were going to mention it. 

Maybe everything wouldn’t be okay, and maybe Eliot and Hardison would emerge from the prison with more scars than they went in with, but either way, Eliot was selfishly glad that he wasn’t alone this time. He knew that Hardison was never going to leave him or let him be alone, and for all that was annoying in practice sometimes, he loved him for it. 

As long as they were together, Eliot supposed that maybe - just maybe - that was enough. Maybe _they_ were enough.

**Author's Note:**

> [Stalk me on Tumblr](https://moonlight-breeze-44.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Prompts are open!
> 
> Want to scream about Leverage with other fans? [Join the multifandom Discord server](https://discord.gg/82pvdE39fD) I run with my friends! We welcome everyone, and we would love to have you. <3


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